We Need Ranked Choice Voting

Nov 09, 2018 | 5:45 PM

In the aftermath of a bruising campaign season, Connecticut legislators need to reflect on what went wrong and address it. First on their agenda should be to implement ranked choice voting in Connecticut.

In the race for governor, for instance, voters had a choice of five candidates. In the heat of the campaign there were calls for candidates to withdraw, or shaming of voters to only vote for a major-party candidate.

Although, as some argue, it is "a fact" that the U.S. is a two-party system, of deeper consequence is that our Constitution guarantees our right to free speech, to assemble and to petition. Under our Constitution, Democrats and Republicans must accommodate those who want to exercise their First Amendment rights by running for office.

We have a choice: We can conveniently forget the lessons of this election, or the Connecticut legislature, like Maine, can implement ranked choice voting, which makes possible listing your voting preferences in order. This allows more than two candidates to compete without fear of splitting the vote.

This is a common-sense solution we can implement now, before the next election, to stop the cycle of dysfunction regarding the reality of multiple candidates.